John Bidwell (1819-1900)

John Bidwell was a California pioneer and politician who was born in Chautauqua County, New York. In 1849, he acquired 22,000 acres, north of Sacramento, and for the remainder of his life he was a cultivator of the soil, becoming the most noted agriculturalist of the state. In 1864 he was elected as a representative in the United States Congress.